Cha Tae-hyun cancelled filming and flew to Jeju to win back his wife — 13 years before they married

He cancelled filming and booked a flight

Cha Tae-hyun married his first love Choi Seok-eun in 2006 after 13 years of dating. On the September 4 episode of SBS's 무엇이든 해줄지니 - 비서진 (Whatever You Want - Secretary Jin), he walked through exactly how close he came to losing her.

His then-girlfriend said something that shocked him and left. Cha Tae-hyun cancelled a scheduled filming. He flew to Jeju Island to find her. When she learned what he'd done, Choi Seok-eun's response was immediate: "What are you going to do about this?" The couple now have one son and two daughters.

The pen name his wife hates

The episode also pulled back the curtain on a lesser-known part of Cha Tae-hyun's music career. His signature track 아이 러브 유 (I Love You) was written by Choi Seok-eun. By his own account, nearly all of his songs came from her.

"Almost all of my songs were written by my wife. I still receive royalties."

It started with his first album. A professional lyricist fell through on the title track, so he asked his girlfriend. She wasn't a lyricist. He said she'd always been a strong writer anyway. They weren't public yet, so he couldn't use her real name. He invented a pen name instead.

The name was 거목 — pulled from the Geomok Shopping Center (거목상가) in Jamwon-dong, where she lived. He still collects royalties under it. She still hates it. Twenty years of passive income and she's still not over the pen name.

Cha Tae-hyun appeared on the show as the second guest in the "my star" segment. He was born in 1976.